Ranji Trophy 2012: Saurashtra eye outright win against Hyderabad

Favourites Saurashtra will be eyeing an outright win over Hyderabad after taking an overall lead of 344 runs at stumps on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match.

At close, Saurashtra were comfortably placed at 270 for six in their second innings with wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani top-scoring with a 195-ball 69, followed by handy contributions from skipper Jaydev Shah (55), opener Chirag Pathak (43) and unbeaten Shitanshu Kotak (47).

Kamlesh Makvana is the other batsman on 10 at the crease.

For Hyderabad, leg-spinner Akash Bhandari (4/92) accounted for four of the six Saurashtra wickets that fell today while pacer Ashish Reddy (2/31) picked up the remaining two wickets.

With an imposing lead in their hand, Saurashtra is expected to press for an outright victory by declaring their second innings early tomorrow morning, which will give the visitors enough time to bowl out Hyderabad on a torn-out fourth day pitch of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja snapped six wickets in a brilliant bowling performance to help Saurashtra shot out Hyderabad for a paltry 186 to take a crucial 74-run first-innings lead yesterday.